I woke up and felt my wings buzz a tiny bit. Today might be a good day, since judging from those mares from yesterday, I think ponies might start accepting me. And while it might not be the biggest deal, it would make going through Canterlot easier, and that would be awesome. Like this city is really cool, but I can’t really enjoy the city when every other person I pass by gives me the stink eye, can I?

Without another thought, I rolled out of my bed, landed on my hooves(score!), and trotted for a moment before thinking. I had, according to Celly, inadvertently flown across the throne room just to greet Trixie, so perhaps I can… My wings began to buzz as I felt my legs begin to dangle in the air. I blinked a couple times before going a little higher, and higher, until I could touch the ceiling.

This is awesome! I leaned forward and let out a hardy laugh as I moved forward. A lean to the left, well, I went left, a lean to the right, so on and so forth. I hovered above the bed, before allowing myself to descend… only to drop all the way from the ceiling onto my bed. I screamed before making impact with the mattress, which thankfully took most of the pain out of my fall. I landed on my stomach, so my wings were going to be fine.

One quick look over later and I knew I hadn't broken anything. Maybe I can get some pointers from Celly or Lulu at breakfast. They got wings, wings made of feathers, but surely the process of landing after flying was the same despite the differences that my insectoid wings had from the bird-like feathers my adopters had. Actually, I want to go find Luna and hang out with her.

It’s been a solid day since I’ve seen Luna, and I really like her. I like her about as much as I like Celly, but I haven’t seen the lunar alicorn in a whole day, and I missed her. I could’ve seen Lulu at dinner, but after wrestling with my guard, I was brought straight to bed.

Now with a goal for the day, I rolled out of my bed, and trotted over to the bathroom to brush my teeth and shower.

I stepped out the door to find… Sergeant Dagger is missing. Perhaps he was just doing his job and being unobtrusive, but I was hoping to keep chatting with that guy. Despite the rough exterior he has to have as a guard, Sharpened Dagger is probably one of my favorite ponies so far. Like the guy had let me drool on his shoulder after I dozed off mid wrestling match. I don’t know anybody who would’ve been even remotely okay with that.

Well, there really isn’t much else to do, so I started making my way to the dining hall. While I might not know the full layout of the castle, I do know a thing or two about getting to the dining hall, since it always had food, and I always happen to want or need food. One left, one right, another left, and two doors down… Ha! The door! I pushed it open and walked into the dining hall. Lulu and Celestia in sight!

“Ah, good morning Nogla!” Luna waved from the table. Despite the bags under her eyes, I could tell that Luna was giving an effort to be happy and cheerful around me. Without a second thought, I had waddled over, sat in Luna’s extra large, extra comfy, princess sized chair and scooted close to the Moon Princess. Luna didn’t hesitate in draping a wing over my back. In the corner of my eye, I could see Celestia give a pout about who I had chosen to cuddle with this morning, and Luna must’ve caught on, because she blew a raspberry in her sister’s direction.

Y’know, like a princess.

“So, how was your night, Luna?”A plate with bread and scrambled eggs was levitated over to me. I cut the bread in half with my magic, and stuck some of my eggs into between the two slices… egg sandwich baby!

“It was… tiring to say the least. From the mountains of paperwork that I still have, to defending nigh a hundred ponies from nightmares, I am quite eager to take the day off and sleep after my dinner, or your breakfast in this case,” Luna eyed me for a second. “Though I do not recall you learning a cutting spell, or else my sister would’ve told me about it.”

Celestia in question was staring at the egg sandwich I had made, before grinning. “I haven’t even been able to teach Nogla about how to use his magic. There is just so much extra work after our… little vacation. I have only been able to gauge how he might rank amongst unicorns in terms of raw power, which is slightly above average. How did you learn how to cut things?”

“I just chose a point in the bread, and thought about separating it by grabbing different ends of the bread,” I said before taking a bite of my sandwich. Okay, I need to know who the fuck scrambles these eggs, because they are perfect. I will find out who, and I will praise them for such good eggs! Like these are very, very fluffy. Very nice.

“So I don’t think that would even count as a spell, would it?” I asked.

“No… I suppose it wouldn’t, however, that was an ingenious way of cutting things. It’s something I try to teach my students; think outside the box.” Celestia smiled. “I wouldn’t have thought you would try doing something like that when a cutting spell was off the table…” Celestia grinned at her own terrible pun.

“I didn’t even know there was a specific cutting spell. But it’s a human thing to think about various ways to do the same tasks. Since we don’t really have magic, we just go about things. Like we need something to stick to this thing? Hot glue. If that doesn’t work, a hammer and nail. The one thing we humans have over most animals is how we can think; we don’t just rely on instincts.

“I suppose in this case, since I can’t use magic very well, I chose to use my magic in a way to help me cut my bread. After all, I don’t see any knives to cut things with, and I wanted to cut my bread and make a sandwich.” I took another bite.

“I suppose when you come from a species that might not naturally have magic, once given the ability to use magic, it would make sense that you would think of ways to perform a ‘spell’ without actually doing a spell. Such as cutting bread in half with levitation. It makes you more intuitive with magic.”

The three of us continued to eat our dinner and chat about some other things, mostly about teasing me about the photo that Celestia took of me yesterday. The one where I was cocking my head to the side while I was confused. Meanwhile Luna kept asking me if I ever thought that Trixie was pretty, to which I said yes. Each time I said Trixie was pretty, one of the sisters would whistle.

Why are they whistling? I just think that Trixie is kinda pretty.

“S-stop it changeli- ack!”

My head snapped up from what I was doing, which was reading another Daring Do book on some bench leading up to the library. I had just gotten the book when somebody shouted that at the top of their lungs. Getting up to go see what the heck just happened. Lying on the floor, bleeding out, was the mangled body of some… body. I didn’t know who they were, they were mangled to the point where a decent chunk of their face was shredded. It all seemed… barbaric yet calculated. It was horrifying, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of the sight.

There was a bloody knife laying close to the body.

I started to tremble as I stepped closer to the body. “Uh… sir?” I knew the guy wasn’t alright at first, he was pretty beaten up, but the thing that made me nearly puke was the wound on the stallion’s throat. It was a pretty deep gash, right where the jugular would be, and was where most of the blood was coming from. This pony, whoever they were, was dead. That was that, somebody was gone, and nobody knew where the killer was.

My hooves were slightly soaked in the pony’s blood by the time my initial shock had calmed down. I was still shocked, but I could at least think beyond ‘oh my fucking god’. My first thought was to find somebody, anybody to tell, to at least get the body collected so it could be sent back to a family or… something! I don’t know! I raised my head and turned to see a decent amount of guards in front of me. I shrank back. Then I stood up as tall as I could, despite how much my legs were shaking, and jerked my head towards the dead body.

“H-hey help me out over-“

“The Prince has gone feral!” One of the guards shouted. Before anybody could react or think, I took running.

I didn’t know how long I’ve been running for, I don’t care. I need to get the hell out of here! God, Celestia and Luna are probably going to think that I actually am just some changeling that had duped them, won’t they? I can’t show my face anywhere without… I shook those thoughts out of my head and slipped into a public restroom to catch a breather.

After running my hooves under some running water, I cleared my head, and began to think. My only way out of Canterlot, that I knew of, was by train, and there was a slight chance that I could get onto the train if… I stick to alleyways and sneak onto the train from there. The only problem with that plan was that I haven’t exactly gotten used to the layout of Canterlot yet. It was a big city, and I barely had two days to explore it.

Three breaths later, I slipped out of the bathroom and kept moving.

There were many things that Princess Celestia had come accustomed to over her long life. The solar princess had seen it all, the death of a comrade in her hooves, diseases, and suffering of her people. When it comes to the pain of others, while not apathetic, Celestia had thought she had grown used to seeing blood, having spilt some during pre-unification, and death, having seen so much of it.

What she saw laying on the ground, a pony mutilated to the point of him being unrecognizable, was nearly too much for even her. Every cut looked deliberate and calculated, as if it was supposed to cause the victim as much pain as possible before going for the finishing blow. The only thing that anypony could gather from the corpse, was that it was a male, and that was it. The spots where something identifiable, such as the cutie marks, were shredded to pieces, the face was torn and mangled as well, leaving very little to find out who this pony was. There wasn’t even a scent beyond Nogla’s scent.

Looking over the body, was Princess Luna, who seemed to be glaring at it, before turning to her elder sister with pure anger in her eyes. The Moon princess turned to a guard, the one who had called them down to the hallway leading up to the library.

“And you say that Prince Nogla was behind this?”

“Yes, your highness, Nogla was covered in blood by the time we found him. We believe that he might've… physically lashed out at this pony after the pony berated him.”

“Or perhaps our trust was greatly misplaced. Nogla is a changeling, a master of deceit. Perhaps what he said were his origins were false,” Luna stated. “And if that is the case, we must make haste before that thing gets away. Go get a squad of guards and block every possible way out of Canterlot. And have the captain send another to watch the train station.”

Celestia was, for the first time, at a loss for words. Had a simple changeling really managed to fool herself and her sister? Nogla seemed so genuine…. if that was even that drone’s name. Even if it had turned out Nogla was completely innocent and, for sure, what he said he was, there was no way that little drone could prove otherwise.

“I shall go notify the rest of the guard to be on high alert. We may potentially have another changeling invasion on our hooves. I shall also alert the Elements of the situation.” Celestia’s voice, much to everypony’s shock, even Luna’s, was that it had run cold.

I stuffed myself into a suitcase compartment on the train, out of sight, and hidden away from the rest of the train passengers. I worked hard as hell to not be seen, so the last thing I need is for somebody to see me, shout, and ruin my chances of getting out of Canterlot unscathed. Surprisingly, it was incredibly comfortable to be stuffed into such a tight space, so this worked out surprisingly well.

It was a surprisingly close call, I could hear some ponies, probably guards, shouting orders and ‘securing the area’.

I let out a sigh of relief after I shut the suitcase compartment. Now what? I have no idea as to what I can do. Like I could turn myself in, but then what? There isn’t a shot in hell that either of my adopters would think I’m actually a cold blooded killer, but what could they do? For all everyone else knows, I killed somebody, and that was that. It would be very hard to bail me out after such a crime.

Outside my hiding spot, I could hear ponies chatting away with each other, and enjoying their lives. You lucky bastards, I could barely enjoy mine before being stuck here, and then I couldn’t even enjoy being stuck here for more than three days! I can probably cook, but I doubt I would have any money to get food after today, so I will starve to death eventually. I could feed off of love, but I don’t think I know how to do that.

Where the fuck can I even go? I don’t think I can just waltz up to the Crystal Empire, since I’m sure Celly would tell Cadence and Shining Armor. I have no clue what Ponyville looks like, so I might just accidentally end up in Ponyville where there’ll be six ponies looking for my head.

What if Luna and Celestia think I’ve duped them? There’s no way, right? God… where the hell is Sharpened Dagger, I want somebody to tell me everything will be alright.

I laid my head in my hooves and dozed off, using the train’s wheels as my lullaby.

Sergeant Dagger

I watched Nogla make a dead sprint onto a train to Ponyville. I knew there wasn’t much I could do to prove that little drone’s innocence, but I do know one thing. I know who the culprit is, and I am going to find them. I will make them, before the Princesses, admit what they have done, that they have framed Nogla. As his guard, and… for my friend, I will get to the bottom of this and prove that Nogla is entirely innocent.

I turned around with a sigh and started making my way to the palace to do some research, and perhaps even find the changeling that had actually committed the crime. Now, if I were a changeling, where would I want to be at this very point and time? Perhaps somewhere they believe they won’t get caught.

I caught sight of a guard, who was also watching Nogla, but they were snickering the whole time… there was blood on their armor. I glared at it and started following it.

A sudden jolt shot me awake, did somebody find out that I’m here? I lifted the door to my compartment ever so slightly.

“We have reached Ponyville!”

Perhaps I can explain what happened to Twilight? She’ll be very understanding of what is happening, right? I slipped out of the luggage box, and slipped out an open window… and holy shit. If Canterlot was big and grand, Ponyville was small and cozy. It was kinda reminiscent of my home back in Ireland, except these houses had hay or straw rooftops, whereas my roof had tiles due to how much it rains in Ireland.

Well, I can't really afford to stand around, I need to find Twilight, and I’ve got no clue as to where she would be. There definitely wasn’t any way I was going to actually ask anybody where a Princess Twilight Sparkle would be, they’ll run away from me before I can even ask, if not immediately chase me out of town. So I stuck to the shadows, only for a rainbow blur to slam into the ground in front of me.

Well, I know where Rainbow Dash is now.

“What are you doing here, Changeling?”

“I uh… got lost?” I hope I had talked to Rainbow Dash enough for her to recognize my voice, or my ‘weird accent’ as I’ve been told to have.

“Nogla?” Rainbow cocked her head to the side. “Why the heck are you in Ponyville? Wouldn’t Princess Celestia be worried sick about you?”

“I can’t explain why I’m here… just can you tell me where Twilight is?”

“I can do one better! I'll take you to her!”

“Wha-Fuck!” Rainbow grabbed me with her hooves and immediately took off at speeds that would make Sonic the Hedgehog jealous.

“Are we certain that Nogla has, or could have, done… all of that?” Celestia asked.

“Of course, eyewitnesses said that they saw that thing standing over the body for quite some time, and some even claimed to hear somepony screaming for mercy from the same direction that… that changeling was in. Perhaps that was simply a spy sent by Queen Chrysalis that was very, very heavily informed on what Twilight Sparkle was doing at the time, and used that to its advantage. Worry not, we can capture the changeling and question it if we capture it alive.”

“I… if we’ve been deceived, then I do not know what to say. I want to give Nogla the benefit of the doubt, but there is no way for anypony to prove anything beyond claiming to have seen a changeling, Nogla, standing over a pony’s dead body.” Celestia looked up from her tea. “I just find it hard to believe that the very changeling that had eagerly went to you for cuddles at breakfast, could be such a cold hearted killer, even if Nogla was lying about his past.”

“That is because that thing was playing us like a fiddle, sister.”

A small trail of flame maneuvered its way through a door. It was from none other than Twilight Sparkle. Celestia began to read it before dropping it.

“Twilight says that she has captured a changeling.”

Earlier…

Rainbow Dash knocked on the door to a tree house. Like not a house built in a tree, buet a house built into a hollowed out tree. It was kinda insane because, from what I can tell, the tree was still alive. If it weren’t for my current situation, I would’ve stopped and tried to piece together how the fuck this was possible. Like it seems really cool, but incredibly implausible and pretty hard to pull off.

Also, the sign out front said ‘Golden Oaks Public Library’, so why was Rainbow knocking? I opened the door and walked in.

“Hey! You can’t just walk into somepony's home like that!” Rainbow trotted in behind me despite what she had just told me. I swiveled my head to face her as I continued inside. Wow, this is marvelous, books, it… it’s a library, that’s for sure! It was honestly really cool, it had a nice, woody smell, like freshly cut wood, while having a nice, old, timely appearance that felt rather cozy.

“It’s a public library, you’re allowed to go in without knocking…” I turned back and… there’s the Princess in question. Twilight Sparkle was reading a scroll, or rather, Spike, her dragon, was reading a scroll to Twilight who’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates. I never really got to meet Spike, or talk to him, but I have heard about him. So the only baby dragon I’ve seen so far is definitely Spike.

I hope so, or that would be pretty rude.

“Your former mentor, Princess Celestia!” Spike rolled the scroll back up.

“Hey Twilight!” Rainbow waltzed up to her friend while I was frozen. Hopefully that was just an old letter, right? Clearly the postal service would’ve taken some time to-

“Hey Rainbow, I need you…” Twilight’s eyes fell upon me. “What is a changeling doing here?”

“Uh… hey?” I waved. Twilight’s horn immediately lit up, and the next thing I know, I’m tied up and lying on the ground. “W-what the hell was that for?” I knew better than to struggle or try to break free. What the hell was I gonna do? Twilight was apparently a very powerful magic user, and once she told Rainbow Dash, then I’d be caught in mere seconds the moment I broke free and made a run for it.

“Twilight! What the hay are you-“

“Get the rest of our friends, Rainbow. I’ll explain it once they get here.”

I barely listened to what Twilight was telling her friends. I already knew what it was, I apparently killed some guy, when all I wanted to do was read Daring Do, and quite possibly hang out with Luna when she woke up again. Why couldn’t today have just been normal? It should’ve gone like this:

Wake up, morning routine, eat, wander around the city, get called a slur, cry, cuddle with a princess, wrestle said princess and get my ass kicked, and then laugh with said princess as we goofed off.

And instead, I’m tied up like a criminal for a crime I didn’t commit, without any way to prove my innocence. Occasionally one of the Elements would shoot a glare at me, all except for Pinkie, as Twilight continued on with what she was saying. I eventually got fed up, and since I wasn’t going to get any sleep, I decided to speak up.

“You know, it’s been a really fun day. I love being accused of murder, and having everybody suddenly think I had tricked them all into thinking I was just some socially awkward kid from another dimension. I love going from that nice, maternal love that Luna and Celestia were giving me, to being treated like I will actively slit everybody's throat.”

Twilight stopped, and along with the rest of her friends turned to look at me.

“How do we know you’re not just saying that to-“

“I fucking let you borrow my phone to study it, you dumbass! Fuck, Celestia literally played with a device made for entertainment, from my world, that I also highly doubt exists anywhere in Equestria! I have done nothing, not a damn thing you all that would be considered even remotely…” I took a deep breath.

“Y’know what? If I manage to get away I’m gonna go hide for the next two and a half years. Oh wait, I probably won’t even get that will I? I’ll probably get chased to the ends of the earth and put in jail for killing somebody I didn’t even lay a hoof on!” I laid my head back down. “Fuck it, I give up. I’m willing to bet that you already sent a letter to my wonderful adopters, telling them about how you caught a monster. I may as well become what you say I am.”

Everybody in the room stared blankly at me, and I wasn’t about to hear them make any rebuttals. I managed to flip myself over and face the wall. Oh look at that, another Daring Do book. I lit my horn and brought the book over to me and began to read- a ring had slipped onto my horn and the book fell on the ground.

Princess Luna

Despite my sister’s urging, I have decided to come along to confront that little changeling. That thing, that foul creature has had the audacity to trick my sister and I in such a manner, and then kill somepony. For all we know, it was trying to get close to my sister to try and have a go at her as well. The very thought made me angry, as that pony could have been anypony, myself, Twilight, a foal.

All the reason to make sure this changeling is detained.

The moment we touched down in front of Twilight Sparkle’s library, I jumped out and ran ahead of my sister. I slammed the door open, and everypony in the room looked up from what they were doing to look at me.

“Greetings, Princess Twilight,” my sister had walked into the room after me, ducking down so as to not bump her head or horn on the frame. I gave a small little chuckle, and would’ve made a remark on my sister’s ongoing battle against door frames had we not come for such an important reason. The Elements did a quick bow, and Twilight Sparkle immediately got to business.

“We got Nogla in the corner,” she said, pointing at the changeling in question. And there it was, laying in the corner, facing the wall, was a changeling. Around his neck was a chain that held onto a pocket watch I'd noticed at breakfast. The thing’s legs were tied up and there was a magic prohibiting ring on his horn, hugging it tightly. Laying in front of him was a Daring Do book that was being held open with both of his forelegs.

“Are you going to face us, changeling?”

Nogla

“Hey Luna,” I had raised my head and lifted my forelegs up to it. I cut the rope that was binding them with my horn before removing the rope that had my hind legs tied up. I sat up with a stretch and turned to face both of my adopters; I already knew Celly was here; I heard her voice. The look Luna was giving me was probably enough to set the Sun on fire… I have never seen so much anger and hate on anything’s face before.

“You dare to-”

I laId back down and started facing the wall again. I really do not want to look at that face. It doesn’t help that I can sense Luna’s emotions, but at least I won’t have to look at the angry princess.

“I was hoping to spend the day with you, even if you were gonna be knocked the fuck out from document signing and nightmare hunting all night. So if nothing else from this situation, we can spend the day together, you, me, and the inside of an interrogation room full of various torture methods that’ll make me scream and want to die. So I’m looking forward to that, Lulu. Though I do request that you don’t peel my carapace off of my body, and instead choke me until I can feel my lungs burn.”

Luna used her hoof to roll me over and face her. “Do you think this is a joke?”

“Sister,” Celestia had placed a hoof on her younger sibling’s back.

“Oh, I know this situation isn’t a joke; somebody’s dead and you think I killed him. I can’t really get myself out of this situation, can I? No way to prove my innocence, and there’s only three ponies who I’d thought would think I’m innocent. One thinks I’m a cold blooded killer with nothing but hate in my heart, the other is missing, nowhere to be found, and the last seems entirely uncertain about this whole thing.” Luna began to press her hoof into my chest.

“Do you think-”

“Hey Celestia, remember that device I showed you? Y’know, the Nintendo DS? Remember how I showed you something that straight up doesn’t exist in Equestria?” the princess nodded. “Isn’t that enough evidence that I haven’t lied about my origins at least?” Celestia took a deep breath.

“It shows that you aren’t lying about your origins, but we aren’t certain if you have, or haven’t killed that pony in the hallway.”

“Yeah fuck it, just drag me away to a dungeon and decide what to do with me from there. At this rate, I doubt I’d even be allowed to walk as a free man, let alone be allowed to go home. Let’s just get it over with, you can banish me to the Sun or whatever, and I’ll be out of your hair. W’la! One less cold blooded killer out of your hooves!”

I was lifted up in a yellow hue and laid out on Celestia’s back.

“We are going to hold a trial, my sister and I will be your audience. From there you can try and prove your innocence.”

Despite everything, I felt… safe on Celestia’s back, and now I have a plan. I nuzzled into Celestia’s neck, which made her jolt. I closed my eyes and started snoring.

Celestia

“He… actually fell asleep on your back,” Luna sighed. “If it were not for the fact that that thing has killed somepony, I would consider that to be cute.”

“We have yet to know if Nogla is innocent or not,” I said after walking out of the library. “I know Nogla is not lying about where he originates from; there’s too much existing evidence to prove otherwise. From the devices he has, one of which Twilight describes seeing, to describing something that Twilight said she had done while in this… other dimension, and Nogla’s proximity to the mirror lines up to him being from this other universe.”

“But we have yet to see-“

“I know, Lulu.” We both had got on the chariot, “I would love nothing more than to have Nogla be innocent in all of this. Then we can go back to how things were yesterday… or even this morning.”

“I do as well, sister. But for now, we have to wait for the trial.”

Nogla

The moment I heard the chariot take off the ground, my eyes shot open. Now my legs weren’t tied up, so I could still move. Celestia and Luna seemed to be busy shouting at each other in a bubble, so now was my chance. So I decided to just go ahead and wing it. I waited until the chariot was at a good height in the air, and away from Ponyville, but not too close to Canterlot. Now or never…

I looked down and noticed a forest with a very thick canopy. Like it was so thick that I couldn’t see the forest floor that the leafy blanket hid below. Well, my fall won’t be too bad if the leaves were as thick as they looked from up here. I took a quick glance at Celestia and Luna again, who finally noticed I was awake, but the bubble had yet to disperse. I gave both of them a nice, fake, cheery smile and wave before rolling out of the chariot and plummeted to the floor below. I made sure to hold my legs close to my body as I nose dived.

“Nogla!” I could hear Celestia shout before I hit the canopy, hitting every branch possible, before hitting the forest floor below.

Sharpened Dagger

The Royal Guard I had been stopped and quickly made a sharp turn into an alleyway, not noticing I was behind him. The entire time, the guy was snickering to himself, and whispering something to himself like a maniac the entire time I had been following him. I continued to follow the bastard into an alleyway before I reached a dead end.

The guard turned around.

“Now-“ I didn’t give him time to speak, I threw a nearby trash can at the guard as hard as I could, and knocked him out… almost immediately, the guard was engulfed in green flames, revealing a fully grown changeling drone. I smirked; Nogla was truly innocent.

I grabbed the doppelgänger, tied him up, and started dragging him back to the castle.

Author's Note

And... the moment I’ve been waiting for. Next chapter may or may not have a happy ending, or a bad ending depending on how I feel about killing off a character or two. >:)

you’ll just have to wait and see next chapter!